Starbucks Brewed Coffee Menu USA

Four of the five drinks here are the same cup of black coffee with a different bean in the brewer. The fifth adds milk. Use this table to match the roast to the way you like coffee to taste, then read the write-ups below for the detail.

Blonde and Pike Place are on the brewer all day at almost every store. The dark roast rotates, and the decaf pot is often replaced by pour-over after mid afternoon, so ask if you do not see it listed.

Blonde Roast - Starbucks Sunsera

Blonde Roast - Starbucks Sunsera is the lightest roast on the brewer. The notes are bright citrus and toasted almond, with a thinner body than the darker options and almost no roasty bitterness. It is the cup to try if you have always found Starbucks coffee too heavy. A Grande is 5 calories black and costs $4.15 at the reference store.

• Why choose the Blonde Roast? Light drinkers: the mildest black coffee on the menu.
• Milk friendly: a splash of 2% or oat does not bury the coffee.
• Morning first cup: bright and easy without the bite of the dark roast.
• Same price as Pike Place: $3.85 for a Tall, $4.35 for a Venti.

Nutrition tip: light roasts do not taste sweet on their own, so if you reach for sugar, one pump of syrup adds about 20 calories and 5 g of sugar. Try cinnamon powder from the condiment bar first.

Medium Roast - Pike Place Roast

Medium Roast - Pike Place Roast is the house coffee. It was blended so a cup could be poured and finished without anyone thinking too hard about it: cocoa, toasted nuts, medium body, clean finish. Every size is 5 calories black, and a Grande carries 315 mg of caffeine, which is more than two shots of espresso.

• Why choose Pike Place? Consistency: it is brewed fresh every 30 minutes and tastes the same in every state.
• Always available: the one pot you can count on from open to close.
• Cheapest caffeine on the menu: 315 mg for $4.15.
• Refill ready: Rewards members can refill brewed coffee in-store on the same visit for very little at participating locations.

Best pairing: a plain butter croissant or a bagel with cream cheese. The coffee is neutral enough that a sweet pastry does not clash.

Featured Dark Roast - Starbucks 1971 Roast

Featured Dark Roast - Starbucks 1971 Roast is the current featured dark roast, named for the year the first store opened. Expect toasted sugar and walnut with a heavy, smoky body. It is the roast for people who add cream and still want to taste coffee. The reference figures put it at the same 315 mg of caffeine per Grande as the lighter roasts, so the darker flavor does not mean a stronger buzz.

• Why choose the dark roast? Bold flavor: the most roast character of the three.
• Cream and sugar drinkers: the coffee still comes through after add-ins.
• Cold weather cup: heavy body reads as warming.
• Rotates: the featured dark roast changes through the year, so the notes shift.

Best pairing: anything with chocolate. A chocolate croissant or a brownie sits well against the smoke.

Decaf Roast - Pike Place Roast

Decaf Roast - Pike Place Roast is Pike Place put through the decaffeination process, and it tastes close to the original. A Grande carries 25 mg of caffeine, not zero, which matters if you are avoiding caffeine for a medical reason. Price is the same as the regular roasts at $4.15 for a Grande.

• Why choose decaf? Late-day coffee: a cup at 4 p.m. that does not wreck your sleep.
• Pregnancy or caffeine limits: 25 mg is well under most daily caps.
• Half-caff: ask for half decaf, half Pike Place in the same cup.
• Same taste: cocoa and nut notes carry over from the regular blend.

Nutrition tip: after the morning rush many stores make decaf as a pour-over, which takes a few minutes. Order it in the app before you leave so it is waiting.

Caffè Misto

The Caffè Misto is a one-to-one mix of brewed coffee and steamed milk, sometimes called a café au lait elsewhere. It is the only drink in this section with real calories: 110 in a Grande with 10 g of sugar, all of it from the milk, and 7 g of protein. Caffeine drops to 150 mg because half the cup is milk. At $5.05 for a Grande it costs less than a Caffè Latte.

• Why choose the Caffè Misto? Latte budget: a creamy hot coffee for about thirty cents less than a Grande latte.
• Milder coffee: brewed coffee is softer than espresso, so the cup is gentle.
• Any roast: ask for it with Blonde, dark roast or decaf.
• Any milk: oat, almond, soy or coconut work, and nonfat drops the calories further.

Nutrition tip: a Short Caffè Misto is 50 calories, which is the lightest milk-based hot coffee on the Starbucks menu.

Brewed coffee is the strongest caffeine source on the hot menu per cup. A Grande of any regular roast carries 315 mg, more than a Grande Caffè Americano at 225 mg and roughly double a Grande Caffè Latte at 150 mg. The figures below are for the Grande size.

Smaller cups scale down with the pour, so a Short holds about a quarter of the Venti figure. Anyone keeping under 400 mg a day should treat a Venti brewed coffee as their whole allowance. The Decaf Roast - Pike Place Roast at 25 mg is the low option, and the Caffè Misto splits the difference at 150 mg.

Starbucks sets prices per store, and brewed coffee is where the gap between stores is smallest. At Starbucks (Northgate Way & I-5), Seattle the four black roasts are priced identically, from $3.75 for a Short to $4.35 for a Venti, and the Caffè Misto adds under a dollar for the milk.

The refill rule is the real bargain. Rewards members who pay with a registered card or the app can refill brewed coffee, iced coffee or tea during the same visit for a small charge or free depending on the store. Leave the store and the refill resets. Bringing your own cup takes a further small discount off and earns bonus Stars.

The two black roasts differ only in taste. The Misto changes the numbers because milk comes with calories, sugar and protein.

Verdict: order Pike Place if you want a dependable cup, Blonde if you find Pike Place too heavy, and the Misto if you were about to order a latte for the milk and would rather save the money. If you want espresso taste without milk, the Caffè Americano in the next section is 15 calories and costs $4.75.

There is not much to change on a black coffee, but the few options matter more than they do on a latte because the base is so light.

• Room for cream: say it at the register or in the app so the cup is not filled to the lid.
• Milk at the bar: a splash of 2% adds about 10 to 20 calories; heavy cream adds far more per ounce.
• Syrup: any flavor for an upcharge. Each pump is about 20 calories and 5 g of sugar; a Grande gets 4 pumps by default if you ask for a flavor, so ask for 1 or 2.
• Half-caff: half decaf, half regular in one cup, at no extra cost.
• Pour-over: any whole-bean coffee on the shelf can be brewed by the cup if the store has time, usually for the same price as the featured roasts.
• Extra hot or kids temperature: brewed coffee is already very hot; ask for a lower temperature if you are drinking right away.

Black brewed coffee is about as light as a drink gets: 5 calories, no sugar, no fat and 1 g of protein per Grande. The health question is about what gets added at the condiment bar and about caffeine load, not about the coffee itself.

• Keep it black or use a splash of milk rather than cream.
• Pick the Caffè Misto over a flavored latte if you want a creamy cup; it has 10 g of sugar, all from milk.
• Choose a Tall if you are sensitive to caffeine; a Venti of any regular roast is a full day of caffeine for many people.
• Use the Decaf Roast - Pike Place Roast for afternoon refills.
• Skip the sugar packets: two packets add about 8 g of sugar, which is more than the whole Misto.

The four black roasts declare no allergens (none declared). The Caffè Misto contains dairy unless you switch the milk, and the same steam wands and pitchers are used for every milk in the store, so a nondairy Misto is not guaranteed free of milk traces. Syrups and toppings add their own ingredients; check the item page before ordering if you have an allergy.

If you drink coffee every day, brewed coffee is the smartest order at Starbucks: the most caffeine, the fewest calories and the lowest price on the hot menu, with a refill waiting if you stay. Pike Place is the safe pick, Blonde is the softer one, and the dark roast is for people who take cream.

The Caffè Misto deserves more attention than it gets. It gives you a warm milky coffee for 110 calories and $5.05, which beats most lattes on both counts. Confirm the pot that is brewing at your store, since the dark roast and decaf rotate.